How much of an effect does the medication actually have?

When I started my diet program with this doctor, he tested my blood and I ended up being put on a bunch of medications, including metformin and a thyroid med. He said I was insulin resistant (actually diabetic) and that my thyroid wasn't where it should be.

Since I've been on such a strict diet plus these medications, I've lost like 20 pounds (2 months). That's good, but I was wondering what is actually doing it. Is it the meds I got put on? Or just the diet? Or is it a a mixture of both? For example, I was wondering if my thyroid pill actually kicked my crappy thyroid into gear and that's a big reason why I'm losing weight. Or if the pills don't actually have that much effect and it's really only the diet I'm on. Make sense? I want to know which is the stronger player.

My doctor didn't really answer this question for me very well, so I wanted to see if anyone on here had any clue. No doubt my diet plays some sort of roll because it's so different from what I was eating before, but anytime I've dieted in the past (all kinds of diets---as well for my twin sister with the same problems), diets have not been very successful at all, and now it is. Not only that, I've dieted and done hard exercising in college and I was never able to lose weight before, and now I haven't even started exercising and yet I'm losing weight!

Sorry this was so long! Anyone have insight? Should I just assume it's both sides working together? I wish I could test the theory, but I don't want to screw it up to find out!

My experience with Metformin was that, while I didn't lose weight well WITHOUT it, I didn't lose weight while on it without watching what I was eating. Thyroid meds, I've heard, have even more of the same effect. So I'm guessing it's a combination of both the meds and the diet...you wouldn't lose with JUST either one, but the combo of the two allows you to make progress.

Hi, I am not sure of the thyroid medication, but i can speak on the metformin. I have PCOS (and insulin resistance) and my obgyn prescribed 1500 mg. at bedtime. I have been on it for 1.5 months and have lost about 15 pounds. My experience is that i have lost my appetite, Most days I have had to force myself to eat. We changed our eating habits, trying to stay mostly away from gluten and white foods(pasta, potatoes, rice) and focus on lean protein and vegetables. I also quit drinking diet soda and opt for 10+ glasses of water with the occasional tea or coffee. hope this helps!

My take on it is that it doesn't make you lose weight, but it makes your body work like it's supposed to so that you can lose weight. I haven't magically lost weight with the medication. I've been taking them for over a year. But now that I'm finally really working on my diet and exercise, I'm finally seeing some results. I have done the diet/exercise thing sporadically over the last 10 years, and when I've really focused on it in the past I lost NOTHING. I would get so discouraged that I'd quit after 2 months thinking that it wasn't worth it. But now that I'm on the medication, my weight is slowly decreasing. It's still a lot of hard work. But I don't feel that I'm fighting against my body as much anymore.

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I am severely hypothyroid, as well as having IR/diabetes from PCOS. Neither thyroid meds nor Metformin (by themsleves or combined) have caused me to lose weight, but combined with a healthy diet and daily excercise, that allows me to lose weight (albeit excruciatingly slowly).

Rapunzel, feel free to join us on the diabetes thread. I think Mandalin has it right on, they don't make us lose weight, but seem to help our diets work better. WE still have to eat right and exercise, but lose the weight a bit better. Glad your doc has it in hand. Have you been to some diabetic ed classes yet? Are you testing sugars to see what gives you spikes?
Good luck and congrats on the weight loss, that will help your sugars a lot.

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When I first began being treated for thyroid disease I lost 20 lbs almost effortlessly from the thyroid med. Then I leveled out. Now I have to work for it. But at least I have a metabolism now and am able to lose weight. Prior to being treated, I could NOT lose weight. At all.

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